Developing Countries: Bank Services

(asked on 1st June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to her Department's press release, UK calls for global action to protect vital money transfers, published on 22 May 2020, what recent steps her Department has taken to make it easier for diaspora communities in the UK and other countries to continue to transfer money to their relatives during the covid-19 pandemic.


Answered by
James Duddridge Portrait
James Duddridge
This question was answered on 4th June 2020

Previous DFID support is already helping to make money transfers easier, by helping 65 million people in the poorest countries access digital financial services so they can receive funds – including from diaspora communities in the UK – via their mobile phones or online. DFID support is also helping to give 2 million more people access to digital remittance services so that they can send and receive money from home.

In the crisis, the UK Government has made it clear that in the UK people can continue to visit money transfer businesses should they need to, while observing social distancing and staying safe.

And as referenced in the question, the UK has launched – along with Switzerland, and with support from the World Bank and UN agencies – a global Call to Action on remittances, which calls on policymakers, regulators and remittance service providers round the world to take action to ensure that diaspora communities can continue to transfer money to their relatives during the crisis.

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